Trying really hard to OS but the prices keep going up

dubgirl

hi everyone, thanks for the response Sammy Kaye, well we did our weekly shop yesterday as we always do and we spent an extra tenner, given that we buy of the same stuff each week and that at least two thirds of the items were value!

Penny-Pincher!!

OH went to Makros yesterday and managed to buy some greatly reduced Anchor butter (500g spreadable packs) and we froze them, quite a few mozzarellas reduced to under 20p (froze),20 pints of whole milk for £2.00 which we also froze and some other bits. I now have around 15 packs of butter in the freezer, cheddar, 40 pints of milk, bread etc all vastly reduced.

We are quite horrified by how much everyday items have gone up by. I used to easily shop for £30pw, but now its more like £50...we have had to be more precise in what we buy as we are on a limited income.

I know this is cheating but we love cake with tea/coffee in the morning and afternoon. In sainsburys they do a lovely large value madeira cake for 55p which does 12 slices and choc swiss rolls for 15p...so have bought those for the last few weeks and have saved more than cooking them. I have checked the ingredients and there is nothing really bad in there.

PP xx

D&DD

I've been to our local garden centre twice in the past week or so and I've been really surprised both times at how busy it has been...
I'm normally the only one in the veg/seed bit or maybe have an allotmenteer for company but its been hard to even get close to the seed packets at all this week let alone buy any,most of the racks are empty!:eek:
Now this is a huge place usually with plenty of stock so it did shock me..
Fortunately I was only looking but if I'd wanted to get anything I'd have come away empty handed.
I do think its great that people are growing there own..*I've been considered a bit of a freak for years 'cos I've always done it* :rotfl:

moanymoany

At the end of last summer the local garden centre sold packs of seeds were going for 10p each - bought loads!

purpleivy

I passed by Mr T on the way home from chorus on Thurs night as I wanted to get flour, nearly run out. As they had it there I thought I had better stock up, got 8 bags of strong. still 48p, but folks are saying that it is going up. there were quite a few decent things on the reduced shelves as well, one or two as near the end date, but quite a lot just looked as if they weren't stocking any more.

I'm thinking I might try and stockpile a few things now, then reduce monthly budget to account for this. Maybe I should look at an annual budget of £2400...ie £200 per month, and just keep a running total. Then monthly fluctuations in spending won't matter as much.

It'll upset the budget for the end of this month (I haven't updated sig yet) and next, but should be ok. Can always re adjust. When I first started in Jan, I decided on £200 for a 31 day month, less for shorter months. I'm not doing this because I absolutely have to, but because I thought I was spending too much on food and throwing stuff away occasionally. I'm enjoying the challenge and would like to stick with it if poss. Of course, there's always other things to do with the money!

(like we just went and looked at a potential sofa! LOL!)

UK007BullDog

All I can say use Lidl. Its cheaper than Aldi I find for me.
Sadly only have a local Morrisons and Iceland but I try to just buy fresh foods.

Just think how all the really poor people are going through right now with all these food shortages and price rises. Some dont even eat at least one meal a day. I think this will cause new wars all over the world. I think the big countries need to re-evaluate if diverting all this corn to make bio-fuel is actually a good thing. I have my doubts as it will not solve the global warming problems.

I was very skeptical of My supermarket but see it now as a brilliant tool.

The only positive thing about these food price rises is that I only buy the "proper" foods. No more sugary sweet stuff of any kind, or crisps of any kind, or any of those impulse buys going through the supermarket. Plus I am losing weight.

Also going round the shops driving all over the place is no good either as the fuel costs are going up daily.

These are scary times. Maybe we needed a wakeup call????

UK007BullDog

You will find that meat, eggs and any milk products are going to go up.

Animals need feed, which is in short supply and hence very expensive. So any product from an animal will also go up.

Add to that the fuel costs of processing and transportation........

Plus the cost of any leather products are also going up. Next winter season or latest in 2009 the cost of leather shoes will go up.

I myself have been pondering how I can grow some things myself. I am thinking more small scale like herbs. Nothing will grow in my garden as the ground is unsuitable for anything. I have planted so many things over the years and a lot dies, plus the local cats use it as a loo so don't want to eat anything from that patch of land.

I think its time to dig out great-grannies cookbook and see how they cooked without all the convenient additives.

FROSTYFRECKLE

Hi,

Just read the post about not being able to grow anything in their garden - UK007BullDog - sorry can never remember people's usernames. Why not try raised beds and if you google "square foot gardening" you will a website about growing fruit/veg in raised beds - you do not need good soil, also good if you are a newbie to gardening.

MRSMCAWBER

Evening all

Hi Pipkin.... now you mention it when i was in ALDI yesterday i did notice the signs on some of the dairy stuff... but because i didn't need any i didn't pay much attention :rolleyes:
I literally can't wedge another item in either the chest frrezer in the basement, or the one over the fridge at the moment..so i can't take advantage of any more bargains mind thats only because i have soooo many super bargains in there allready :rotfl: ..where about are you by the way? did you get any of the boil in the bag rice? 4x150g bags in a box for just 49c i don't get through much rice but i still grabbed 4 boxes just in case

Well after reading this thread this morning i had a tootle to the garden centre and picked up some more seeds ..got some more beetroot, some curly kale, some asian salad mix and some yellow courgettes ....
Don't know about a "veggiecycle" thing happening ..but there was a thread the other day about that village where lots of folks were growing there own and then once a week they went to the village hall and sold the extras to each other for a nominal amount -i think its brilliant..
back in the UK my mum has recently had 3 huge raised beds put in and when we move back we we are planning on swapping crops, and my uncle who beats at local shoots is going to give me all his game (as no-one else will use it :eek: )... im going to make him game pies or cakes in exchange.. my brother is going to gut n pluck (he is much faster than me) and in return i will bake for him too
I really think that more and more people are going to end up doing the same.

I really feel for those with families who are allready at the top end of how much they can afford to spend on food. At the moment i am cutting back through choice so can put up with the increases (begrudgingly) but heck knows what it will be like when we move back to the UK :eek:

metherer

Mrs M - thats an awesome idea re the village hall sale.

DH and I are off to the garden centre tomorrow to see what we can get, coz we're going to have to cut our grocery budget as much as we can. We were discussing ways earlier- a couple of ideas went onto my blog for mulling over.

Metherer